As for the showcase itself, Helios II, was the opening act for the Singapore arts festival. In a micro view, it was just a simple showcase of how the combination music, dance and imagery interweave with one another and produce a whole new experience, ignoring the rules of 1+1=2. However, on a macro view, one could say that this event was the level-setter for the entire festival, the benchmark so to speak. In accordance to all our expectations, Helios II not only kept the bar high, but brought about a whole new level of experience in terms of visual and musical sentiments. In short, Helios II is one event that will remain in my mind for a long time to come.
A comparison for the Singapore arts festival would be the Edinburgh international festival. Its main product is similar to that of the Singapore arts festival in the sense that both festival aims to spread the word on one idea, Art. When a person heads over to either one of these festivals, what they receive isn’t something extraordinary, it isn’t something mind blowing as well. Instead, what they do receive is the experience of being there, being able to bask in the emotions that the performers put into performing their act, the effort and time the performers put in to perfect their act, the human spirit.
Another close resemblance for both these festival is the fact that both festival adopt the concept of moving around. What this means is simply just that there is no fixed location where all acts are held, instead, acts can be found throughout the whole area of the city increasing its accessibility. Also, by placing the events at different locations, it will be able to draw out different crowds of people. As a result, the event will not only draw about people with similar interest, but similar locations (in terms of where they live) as well. Thus, this will help to tie the community closer and make it a better place.
As each destination has different features, by moving the events, the features of these destinations will be fully utilised. If done correctly, these features will become a facilitating product that contain the potential to enhance the overall experience of the event, take for example, a quintet performance at the Victoria concert hall, upon arriving at the destination, there is a river and the architecture of the building itself is old and yet classy. As such, these small things will help increase the atmosphere in which the audience experiences when they hear the performance.
Since both festivals strive to bring about a whole new outlook of art, it comes with no surprise that the programming has been designed to showcase lots of contemporary art forms. This move was made as they hope to engage the younger generation to participate more actively in such events since they will be the ones that will lead the future art scene and potentially create a whole new experience for it. As for the acts themselves, the acts chosen by both festivals have one thing in common, regardless of the type, and that is the human interface and the quality of it. Performers that can be found in both festivals are both human in the sense that they do err from time to time and yet, at the same time, determined to not let such setbacks to put them down. Instead, they correct it almost instantaneously and continue the act. It is the mix of both that derives the true quality of the act, one that isn’t measured in perfection, but one that is driven by passion.
Just as how important the performers are for each act, the audience play an equal role as well. Should the audience composition be dominated with people who are unforgiving, the performers will be forced to be perfect, making them feel like robots. With this, the performance would have lost the human part of it and will cease to be an art altogether. This “disease” can be found in both events as such people can be found throughout the world. Luckily, people like this are rarely seen and instances like this are uncommon.
Back to the performers themselves, it should be evident that the performers need to have the passion and soul for doing what they are performing. Should there ever be a lacking of either, chances are, the act itself will feel lifeless and be a pain to watch. However, even if a performer does have both this traits, another important aspect they must embrace is the hospitality factor. What this means is simply the notion that the audience is there, they are not dead and they need to be recognised. Thus the performers should always keep them in their view when performing the acts and never neglect them. This point affects both festivals as people are pretty much similar despite where they come from.
As both festivals are Mega events, the need for sponsors is evident. Since both event are unique to their country and strives to bring out local culture, it comes with little surprise that they are funded/supported by the arts council of both respective nations, the Singapore arts council for the Singapore arts festival and the Scottish arts council for the Edinburgh international festival. Other partners could include official drink sponsors, official hotel or official banks so as to allow privileges on their cards.
Since there are a lot of things riding on these two festivals, advertising is a must have. Advertising could include both local and global channels such as e-bulletins, RSS feeds, the media and the intranet. Also included in the promotional mix will be the collaboration with various affiliates and the public relationships the festival has. As mentioned above, there are tons of sponsors for events such as this. Thus, with the inclusion of sponsors, promotions are in play as some sponsors may request special privileges for their members.
As for packaging and distribution for both festivals, something that cannot be lacking is the intermediaries to help spread the word of it. The most important intermediary will have to be the tourism from each country. It is through this intermediary that word about the event spreads out the furthest. Also important will be the sales of the event, not just in terms of monetary returns but how successful it is in getting its word out. The second part has already been covered by the distribution channel through the means of intermediaries and as for the first part, what’s key is a wide range of distribution network to be at its disposal. Such networks could include the creation of booths and the usage of ticketing websites for this event.
Price is another important factor, be it the admission or the merchandises involved. Both festivals encompass events that are both free and chargeable. It is through this mix of both that the full potential of this event can be fulfilled. This is said as by making only some events chargeable, the spectrum of potential customer’s increases since they aren’t held down by their income and buying power. Even with this said, it is vital to note that other expenses, such as travel expenses have not been thrown into this equation thus income is still a considerable factor. As for the merchandise available, this could include event merchandise or festival merchandise where sponsors pay in order to obtain the rights to print the name of the event on their goods.
With all that has been mentioned so far, it is important to note that despite some similarities, there are differences for both festivals. One striking difference is the amount of potential visitors. Singapore, being an island nation has a limited landmass and a smaller target group. Edinburgh, on the other hand, is part of Scotland and this alone provides them with a larger target group. Thus, Singapore needs to push more on advertising as well as striving to make it unique in order to draw in tourists to the event. Another difference is the history of both festivals. The Edinburgh has existed since the late 1940’s whereas the Singapore arts festival has only existed since the late 1970’s. Thus, in terms of experience and awareness of the event, it is clear that the Edinburgh international festival is better established.
Still, there are yet more similarities for both festival and they do stretch beyond the fact that both are art festivals. One similar feature about them is that they need advertising in order to succeed. Without advertising, both events will be unable to spread the word about them and lose a many potential visitors. Thus, a potential outcome for such a scenario would be that the event would fail.
Probably one of the best practices that both festivals use is the price. One of the ideas in it includes the implementation of allowing some events to go free. This is said as it goes beyond economic gain and sticks very closely to its principle, bringing awareness about art scenes of the local community. Thus by allowing certain events to go free, many people are now able to attend events that they are interested in. Another advantage of allowing some events to go free is that parents are now able to bring their kids there to watch the performance and by doing so, the kids are being exposed to the world of art and may become interested in it.
Another part of price is the packages involved. By having packages, tourist coming in the watch the performances may choose to take up a package which includes hotel stays and perhaps transportation thus making their holiday here hassle-free and improving the quality of their stay here.
Merchandises are another good aspect as it allows one to have a tangible object as proof that they have been there and done that. This also serves as a memento for locals for that event. After all, no two events are the same. The same memento can also serve as a souvenir for tourists and gives them something to bring back home.
Since the Singapore arts festival is a mega event which includes sales and performances, stakeholders for the event include the customers or the visitors to the festival, the Government, the employees, community, the media and the suppliers.
In every event, there has to be audiences. This forms up the bulk of visitors for the event. Without audiences, the need for the event ceases to exist and thus the event will fade out. Since the Singapore arts festival requires a huge sum of money just to make it work, sponsorship is a must and the government agencies form the bulk of it. The employees for the event are like the heart and soul for it. They are the ones that ensure the event is smooth sailing and help provide assistance should anyone require it. Thus, they are an entity that must exist for the event to happen.
As mentioned above, audiences are important for any event. Thus, the community that this people come from play an important role as well. Should this community be narrow-minded about art and hate art to the core, finding that it’s a waste of time and all, the people in it will not attend such festivals and the festival will be a failure. The involvement of the media is to the success of the event as well. This is said as they are the ones in charge for publicising the event and helping it gain awareness. Without them, the event will be obscure and will not succeed as well.
Last but not least are the suppliers. They are the ones that bring in the performances for the festival and bring about life to the festival. They are akin to the blood of the event in the sense that they are the providers of leisure provisions for the event and without them the event would be nothing but an empty shell.
The main purpose of the event is to help showcase various art forms of the local community. This is important, especially to Singapore as it is a multi-racial country with many different cultures. The event also helps to bring awareness about the art. In these two aspects, the event is successful as it showcased arts from different cultures and drew in a huge crowd thus raising the community’s awareness about art.
However, there is another purpose of this event that isn’t stated on paper, which is the human spirit. None of the performance found on the event would have been possible if not for the sheer determination and passion the performers have for their performance. It also showcased how different individuals cope when they make mistakes, they can either give up and complain about it, or forget about it and move on. The performers fall in the second group.
Thus, I feel that this event isn’t merely about showcasing art, talking about its beauty, but a showcase of us, humans on general level, how we adapt to accidents and mishaps and how we learn from them and most importantly, move on.
There are a huge number of repercussions that follow this event. First of all, it helps place Singapore on the worlds art map. By doing so, tourist know about Singapore and what it has to offer and thus may make a return visit back to Singapore after they return home.
On an economical standpoint, by drawing in tourists, they are forced to stay in the hotels and thus, hotel booking rates will increase contributing to the growth of the country’s GDP. Also, during their stay in Singapore, they need to travel and eat. All this further helps the economy of Singapore and raises the GDP of the country. Shopping is yet another indulgence in life that one cannot live without. During their stay in Singapore, the tourists may feel tempted to shop and thus, will purchase items from Singapore stores. By doing so, it will, once again, raise the GDP of the country even further.
If their stay in Singapore was a pleasant one, there is a chance that they may tell their friends and relatives about their stay here and through word of mouth, their friends and relatives may feel like visiting Singapore for themselves and this cycle repeats itself once again.
Some images that were taken there:
